According to The Quint, 35-year-old Fehmeeda also mutilated the girl’s body with sulphuric acid and dumped her in the forest. Police investigations revealed that the 9-year-old was raped by her minor half-brother and his friends, under his mother’s instructions.
It was revealed that the girl’s father Mushtaq Ahmad Ganai had married Fehmeeda, who lived in his neighbourhood, in the year 2001. They have two sons who are 15 and 16 years old and a daughter. Mushtaq married Ganai, a woman from Jharkhand in 2008-2009 and had two daughters with her. On September 2, the decomposed body of the child was found owing to a missing complaint report filed in August. Turns out, Fehmeeda was jealous that Mushtaq was showering more attention and love towards his second wife and daughters.
Within hours of arresting and questioning Fehmeeda, she admitted and identified those involved in the crime. They were all detained and interrogated and their revelations led to recovery and seizure of the weapons and articles used in the crime.
This criminal case comes a few months after another rape case that had shocked Jammu and Kashmir. Called the Kathua Rape Case, an 8-year-old girl from Rasana village near Kathua was abducted, raped and murdered by Sanji Ram, a priest of the family temple (‘devasthan’) where the incident took place. The ‘devasthan’ is a private worship place not open to all. His son Vishal and his nephew, a juvenile are also accused in the case. The others who have been accused are Deepak Khajuria and Parvesh Kumar, who are police officers; Tilak Raj, a head constable and Arvind Dutta, a sub Inspector.
According to a report by child rights NGO CRY, “sexual offence is committed against a child in India every 15 minutes” and there has been an increase of more than 500 per cent over the past 10 years in crime against minors.
“While Uttar Pradesh tops the list with 15 per cent of recorded crimes against children, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh closely follow with 14 per cent and 13 per cent respectively,” the report adds.
Other statistics revealed that in Chandigarh alone, 73 cases of rape out of the 87 registered between January 1, 2017, and May 15, 2018, the accused were found to be known, relatives and even the victim’s father thereby perpetuating the belief that the accused is most likely someone known.
